Often, after seeing an interesting new technique demonstrated by a skilled, innovative colleague, a performer-composer is inspired to assimilate an interesting new technique into his range of skills. Such was the case when I encountered the extraordinary, dynamic playing of French carillonneur Stefano Colletti. At the 2004 GCNA Congress (at Culver), Stefano participated, along with Boudewijn Zwart and me, in a video demonstration about our ideas on carillon technique. Many carillonneurs in attendance at the congress seemed surprised to see that all three of us used a technique of bringing the keys very low, THEN executing a figure, such as an arpeggio or a scale. However, in addition to this, Stefano Colletti demonstrated a technique in which he played a series of very rapid scales lightly, with one finger on each key. I had done things like this with 5–6 notes in a single scale, but Stefano's example used 8–10 notes, rapidly repeating. The effect was extraordinary! I soon discovered, as Stefano did, that executing these figures on the heavy action of Culver's 1951 Gillett & Johnston carillon would be no easy matter, but he had proven it could be done. Intrigued by the possibilities this technique suggested, I decided to write a piece that would use this effect. Sometimes, there are skips in the scales, so that the range spanned is greater. (One has, after all, only ten fingers, and in most cases, nine was the most notes I could manage with any control.) Naturally, a figuration such as this was most appropriate when a piece was written in a French Impressionist style (which was certainly the case in Stefano's use of this technique). All this fit well with my ongoing interest in writing pieces appropriate for evening recitals at Culver, where the campus (and in particular the Chapel tower) overlooks a small lake. The effects of gently rippling waters, a gradually darkening sky, the brilliant orange of the setting sun, and the continued rippling of the waves and gentle breezes are reflected in obvious ways in the music. Sunset on the Lake received its première performance on the evening of June 3, 2006, at Culver.

—John Gouwens